Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

I dont know about you guys but I really dont like the fact that the battery sticks down like that. I like my laptops to be flat. I wish they did make it stick out like the Dells or the sony's instead of going at this wierd angle. I think the way the screen opens up makes the battery angle necessary, but I hate the look

 

Funny you asked this because when I was at the Sony Store yesterday, I stopped by to get a Coke before walking into the store. I didn't want to rest the drink next to the Z because I may accidentally spill on it, besides it was their only Z display.
The lid was closed, and yes I was able to open it with one hand, BUT because of its lite-weight, when I tried to open the lid, the entire notebook lifted up, so I had to rest it on the table and pry the lid with my pointer finger and use my thumb to keep the base down all with one hand, while my other hand was holding onto a drink.

Ask him to do a screenshot, will that help in any way so that you can see for yourself?

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I'd guess that can't work? Wouldn't a screenshot of his 1366x768 screen be automatically displayed on my own computer's screen using 1366x768 of my own pixels? Hence on my screen, text in a screenshot of his screen is of exactly the same size as 'normal text' on my screen. Thus we still get no idea 'how small' it is.

 

I have a very low tech question. Do all VAIOs, including the Z, come standard with a place to attach a security cable? I will be working on my new Z in coffee shops, and fear the dreaded grab and dash thieves.

 

Yes. They do. They do indeed. On the left side of the SR and Z I know there is one.

 

Thank you!

 

well i am going to Marquette Law School. Its in milwaukee wisconsin

 

You're correct, a screenshot wouldn't help. It should just be displayed with your own monitor's pixels as you said.

 

I dont think thats entirely true. Of course it will be displayed with your own pixels but that picture will show the text relative to other elements on the screen. With a good picture you can get a sense of how small the text is... but the picture needs to be close enough so you can read the text, but far enough to see other windows, the screen bezel, and whatever else is necessary to make a relative comparison

 

Just Random! How cool

I noticed that most times I open lids of a notebook I am carrying something in my other hand, so it always annoyed to find a place to put that thing down and use one hand to push the base part of the NB on the table...
So I am satisfied if I can open it, even with some hassle, with one hand

Thanks Geeee!

 

I think you're thinking of a photo. A "screenshot" is a digital image of your screen's contents only. Now if you took a photo of the laptop with the screen on, it's true that you can get some sort of idea of the text scale.

 

Does this picture help?
Its my TZ's screen next to my brother's desktop screen.

TZ screen is 11.1" 1366x768 resolution with 141.18 PPI, 0.1799mm dot pitch
Desktop screen is 17" with 1280x1024 resolution with 96.42 PPI, 0.2634mm dot pitch

I had no problem reading the small text on that webpage myself, but thats me, others may have some issue.

 

Just got a Sony Mailer in the mail today introducing it's notebook lineup:
TZ - 11.1
Z - 13.1, only in Carbon
SR - 13.3, 5 colors
CR - 14.1
NR - 15.4
FW - 16.4, only in Silver and White
AR - 17.0
LT - 22.0

All Sony needs is a 12" to complete the list. Looks like Sony is doing a good job marketing to all groups.

 

Why need a 12" when having the Z?
The 12" wouldn't be much smaller, or what could be squeezed between the footprint of the TZ and the one of the Z?

 

I can open the SZ with one hand. But, like the SZ, the Z has the webcam centered in just the right place to attract a one-thumbed print upon opening it in such a manner.

 

The feeling that a CTO will be more problematic than a preconfigured....

Is there actual evidence of this? Does anyone have any experience with this, or is it more of an opinion based on where and how the computer was constructed. The reason I'm asking is that I want the top tier LCD screen, but am not interested in a $3000.00+ notebook. Any thoughts?

 

I dunno why Sony.ca can't at leasttt put the Z series on the damn web site so customers can plan ahead as to want options they want and what not and if at all. Im really curious as to see what it looks like in person. I may not even like it all, can someone take a nice clear shot of the Z the next time they go and look at it. Id really appreciate it On behalf of be Toronto and myself.

 

Yea if you look some pages back, u'll see I wrote that I have first hand experience with the CTO laptop and that the quality is less and they are Made in China vs Made in Japan like the preconfig, and believe me it makes a diff. I compared my SZ780 CTO to the SZ780 preconfig, and even the screen looked a **** load better, even the Sony sales guy agreed with me. So yea take my word for it.

 

Just saw this pic and thought id share it.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Expo_Comm_Wireless_Japan_2008_Sony_VAIO_Z.jpg

 

Wow...China? For a 2500.00+ notebook!? I can get a $1000.00 problematic Dell again if I want that. That seems so wrong. Earlier in this thread, someone said the CTOs are made in the US. I'm so confused. Thank you for your input though.

 

CTO's are Made in China but assembled in U.S. Regardless, u'll get the same crap quality from either country. Thats why they say, leave it to the Japanese.

 

Imagine Sony sends a notice saying Sorry, the Z series was defected and no longer for sale. Ur money will be refunded. Enjoy ur fugly SR. and good luck.

 

I don't know; it was just ironic how they had every size except for a 12". I guess you can say that about the NR 15.4, why have it if you have a CR 14.1 and FW 16.4?

Or why have CR 14.1, when you have an SR 13.3 and NR 15.4? Or why have both 13.3 and 13.1?

Sometimes that extra inch in screen size makes a world of difference and a matter of "personal preference". I believe there are makers like Toshiba that offer a 12". I won't be surprise if Sony later markets one to compete with other 12" models. Who knows?

Looks like you already found a photo of the Z from one of your posts. Yep, that's what it looks like. That's as good as it gets IMO. Other photos are way too enhanced and photoshopped, but that one you found is as good as its going to get to the real thing.

 

Thanks for the pic =)

I found this: http://3d.vaio.eu/360_view/z/index.html
It is supposed to show the Z but it only shows the FW...
Well but Sonys Websites often contain various glitches ( again they state the Z has DDR2), so this might be updated with a 3d Z model soon... =)

 

Toronto Guy, which Sony Store did you call? (I'm from Toronto too)

 

Well aboard fellow Torontonian! Fairviewmall, YorkDale mall, Sherway Gardens, Upper Canada Mall, Eaton Centre, I pretty much phoned all the locations in the following link bro:

http://www.goldbook.ca/goldbook/toronto/Stereo-Equipment-Sales-Service.html?tag=S


Cheers and try urself to, lemme know if anything. We'll both keep trying

 

Sony VAIO Z series ordered!!!

 

On the Z, anyone know how the 1366 x 768 screen compares to the 1600 x 900 screen?

I've heard that the 1600 x 900 screen is just incredible... but what about the 1366 x 768 screen? Is it equally as amazing, or ???

 

Awesome!

Which Z did you order?

They should have the same incredible color saturation. I would be really surprised if they don't. But currently, I believe sony stores only have the 1600*900 Z on display.

Has anyone seen the 1633*768 Z in person? I'm also immensely interested in the question.

 

Looks like the people in the SR Owner thread have already gotten their laptops.

I can't wait till the Z starts shipping, in 3 weeks possibly? Why does SR comes out first?

@-=ToRoNtO-GuYY=-, I feel so bad for you guys living in Canada... But I guess it doesn't really matter because you can order the Z at online dealers like P1.

 

It will be nice to finally see some first hand reviews of the Z. You won't see them shipping until Intel releases the X4500 which is due mid-August.

 

What is P1? We Canadians can order them already? Why haven't we??

 

Is that for all the custom Sony laptops? Because I was thinking of ordering a CTO FW...

 

Yes, you can open the Z with one hand. I purposely did it at the SonyStyle store when I saw it because one of the "features (if you will)" is the whole LCD part of the frame is flexible on purpose so you can open the screen with one hand without damaging the screen. It gives just a little so you can get your finger inside and then you open it.

 

Yes, generally speaking all modern video cards can query the monitor for it's VESA information which tells the video card what max resolutions and refresh rate is appropriate for the monitor in question.

Given the Z's graphics memory, it should, in theory, be able to drive at least a 1920x1200 monitor if not higher via the HDMI and VGA ports (though, not necessarily at the same time).

 

I CTO'd my Z series (dont worry i will take my chances). I took the Z540 and added the p8600 and 4gb of ram along with 200gb hdd and left everything else standard... Total came to 2330 with taxes and a case... and by the way thew $100 off over the phone didnt work..

By the way im in Canada as well...

But i got one of my friends in the US to order it for me and wen i go to the Us in the last week of august ill pick it up and pay him for it... this way ill have to for school!! (Hopefully there wont be a back order on anything)

 

1920x1200 in RAM is almost nothing at all: 1920x1200 pixels * 24 bits per pixel = ~7 MB. When it comes to resolution capability, it really doesn't matter whether you have 128MB or 256MB - unless you're running something like 5000x3000, even 64MB would be more than enough.

The purpose of having a lot of VRAM is so that 3D games and apps will have lots of high-speed ram storage for high-res textures that are displayed. If you can't fit all your textures in VRAM, you might as well forget it, because otherwise there's just not enough memory bandwidth to display at a good frame rate. So for gaming, 256MB is theoretically better, although someone here said that the 9300gs may not have enough memory bandwidth to make use of all 256MB at full speed.

I guess one possible use for VRAM might be in Blu-Ray decoding (as a sort of cache or something), but that's just (unlikely) speculation.

 

P1= portableone.com

It is an authorized Sony online dealer. They also let you to customize the pre-configured Z's without void the warranty.

Congrats on your purchase!

So you got a 540 CTO?

Do you know that you can customize the pre-configured Z's on portableone.com? I tried customized the pre-configured Z 530 to your spec and that ended up costing $2100.

You know...the 570 with P9500 and 320 gb hdd is only $2250 on P1...

 

Does P1 ship to Canada. Are there any other Canadians here who are/have ordered their Z from this website?

 

Do you guys know if the following VGNZ591UB on Portable One's site might be a preconfigured Made in Japan or a Chinese CTO'd. The reason I sak is that I dont see this configuration on Sonystyle's website, they do not have a Z591. The only Blueray equipped preconfigured Z on Sonystyle is the one with the SSD.

http://laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=VGNZ591UB&Category_Code=SONYZ

 

Well P1 doesn't seem to give a SSD as an option on any of their configurations. Back to the wait for me...

 

This is what they say on their website:

"International orders will be charged full international shipping rates. Customer responsible for all customs, duties, and taxes incurred."

I guess you can have it ship to someone living in the states and then go pick it up like Wolf11.

 

The Z590 with BR is a legit pre-configured Z made in Japan. It's not on Sony Style because its one of the many more pre-configured Z's for business.

You can see the complete list of pre-configured Z on sony's website for business at:
http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/notebooks/ultra_portable/z-series

 

Now I'm beginning to worry that the Z's released in Canada won't have the SSD option. NOOO!!!

 

Which preconfigured Z model number at Sonystyle is the one equipped with blu-ray and SSD? I thought you couldn't get both these together? Please post link, that may be the one I want if that's the case. What was the price?

 

He was talking about how the Z590 on P1 has BR, and the 590 on Sony Style has SSD.

There's no Z that has both options.

 

Hah, I didn't mean that the memory was the limiting factor but rather the drivers might be. Sony has a history of releasing customized drivers that are nowhere near up-to-date as the vendor drivers. Hopefully, users will simply be able to use whatever latest Nvidia Forceware (and/or Intel X4500) Drivers are available.

 

Japanese VAIO's without WWAN (HSDPA) module = CTO's (with bad quality) or what?

http://conics.net/catalog/product_info.php?currency=USD&cPath=22&products_id=308

 

I'm interested in this, too cause I need a japanese keyboard. But I dont know if the shop is good or bad <.<

 

If you search for Conics on this forum you'll find nothing but positive reviews about their customer service. Sometimes people are not so happy with their prices,that's why I ordered at PriceJapan. But you get less service.